July 18, 2017

Hope Houses Workshop, Inc. (http://hopehousesworkshop.com), located at 6311 W Roosevelt Rd, believes that Family Is Key to a strong foundation and a child’s brightest future can be unlocked through play. The mission-based dollhouse manufacturer and retailer celebrated a ribbon cutting in partnership with the City of Berwyn and the Berwyn Development Corporation (BDC) on July 11, 2017.

For each Hope House sold, another dollhouse or treehouse is sent to a child through one of their Give Partners. Hope Houses’ current Give Partners include Hephzibah Children’s Association, Marillac St. Vincent Family Services and ChildServ. Today, they offer two different fully assembled dollhouses, Joy and Merry, and one fully assembled treehouse, Climb, with more models coming soon. Each has a companion storybook, written by local author Lurana Brown, connecting the reader to a whimsical tale whimsical tale that encourages creative play. All models have a keyhole window symbolizing ‘unlock’, where children can find inspiration waiting for them on the other side.

Steve and Kim Lefko, with their daughters Alexandra and Isabelle, started making dollhouses in their garage and giving them away at Christmas to bring joy and inspire hope. “We say ‘Hope’ is a belief that you can realize what you imagine, and our dollhouses and companion storybooks help children unlock their imaginations and play out a great story for themselves. We quickly recognized the impact of the dollhouses on children served by agencies like Hephzibah Children’s Association in nearby Oak Park and turned our hobby into a small mission-oriented business to reach more children,” said Steve Lefko the creator of Hope Houses Workshop.

On Tuesday, July 18, Hope Houses Workshop will host 15 Youth Crossroads Leadership Youth Group members, who will partake in a 3-day building project. Each YC member will build a dollhouse and include a personalized message for their keyhole window. On Day 3, they will deliver the doll houses to the children of Marillac St. Vincent Family Services in Chicago. This will be the first of many projects that Steve hopes to have for the community to participate in.

“Welcome to Berwyn! We appreciate and admire Hope Houses’ philanthropic spirit; we cannot wait to see what you can do for our community,” said BDC Board Vice-President Anthony Belcaster.

“What you are doing here is truly unique. Thank you for choosing to be a part of the Berwyn community,” said Mayor Robert J. Lovero.